LANIID.E THE SHRIKES. 195 



dusky, and tinged, more or less, with buff. Middle and greater wing-coverts, tipped with 

 grayish buiT, enclosing a cui'ved dusky line; secondaries tipped with pale buff. Breast 

 and sides pale buff or light grayish, vermiculated with dusky grayish. Black on side of 

 head replaced by grayish dusky, with less sharply defined outlines. 



Total length, about 9 inches; extent, 12.50; wing, about 3.75-4.10; tail, about 4.00. 



Although the so-called "White-rumped Shrike" has usually been 

 recognized as a well-marked race, it is found, when very large series 

 of specimens are carefully compared, to rest upon a rather unstable 

 basis. The ascribed characters are good enough if they were con- 

 stant, which they are not; and about all that we can at present 

 admit is a decided tendency in specimens from the arid interior 

 regions to be lighter in color than those from the more humid dis- 

 tricts on either side. The opposite extreme is seen in specimens 

 from Florida, which are very dark, bu,t probably hardly separable 

 as a race. 



Specimens of this species from Illinois have been referred to ex- 

 cubitorides; but, while some specimens approach the latter, none 

 that I have seen are typical of that style. Regarding this matter, 

 Mr. Nelson makes the following observations in his catalogue of 

 the birds of the northeastern portion of the State (Bull. Essex Inst. 

 Vol. VIII., 1876, p. 104) : 



"A small series of shrikes from the northern and southern ex- 

 tremes of the State have been submitted to my friend, Mr. J. A. 

 Allen, who replies as follows : ' They all belong decidedly to var. 

 ludovicianus, though somewhat lighter than Florida specimens, with 

 smaller bills, etc. There is a slight approach in some of them to 

 excubitorides, but the resemblance to Florida specimens is far greater 

 than to specimens from the West Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, etc. 

 During the past two years I have examined a large number of 

 shrikes from northern Illinois, and have found them, in nearly all 

 cases, to be much nearer ludovicianus than excubitorides * Specimens 

 obtained in the Wabash Valley and other parts of southern Illinois, 

 exhibit the same characteristics in about equal proportion, as far 

 as the number of specimens seen would permit me to judge." 



In all portions of the State of Illinois that are not too thickly 

 wooded, the Loggerhead Shrike is a more or less common species. 

 It is partial to those more open localities where there are hedge- 

 rows or plenty of low thorny trees, preferably the honey-locust 

 (Gleditschia triacanthos), wild crab-apple, or trees of like character. 



* An example collected at Mt. Carmel, January 5, 1886, by Master Jesse J. Turner, and 

 by him presented to the National Museum, is decidedly the darkest in color of any of the 

 numerous specimens in the National collection, including those from Florida. 



